Fighting erupts between rival insurgent groups in Syria
The al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — Arabic for Levant Liberation Committee — and the Turkey-backed Nour el-Din el-Zinki group blamed each other for triggering the fighting in the northern province of Aleppo.
Nour el-Din el-Zinki is part of a 15-member coalition known as the National Liberation Front that has clashed with extremists in the past. Other factions in the NLF have been sending reinforcement to rebel-held parts of Aleppo to back their allies against al-Qaida-linked gunmen raising fears that the fighting will escalate.
According to activist collectives in northern Syria, both groups used heavy weapons, including tanks, in the fighting.
The rebel-held area is mostly in the northwestern province of Idlib that has witnessed sporadic violence since a Russia and Turkey agreed on a truce in September that averted a government offensive on the area.
Idlib has been plagued by assassinations over the past months that left scores of people dead including al-Qaida-linked fighters.
The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said the al-Qaida-linked fighters captured the villages of Taqad, Saadiyah and Habata. It added that fighting is ongoing in the town of Daret Azzeh.
The Levant Liberation Committee said Nour el-Din el-Zinki militants shot dead five people, including four of its fighters, last week. It added that a local court released an official with the Nour el-Din el-Zinki after questioning him leading to tensions in the area.
The clashes are the first between the two former allies since they reached a deal to end similar fighting in October.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says two civilians, including a nurse at a clinic in Daret Azzeh, were killed. SCMM said five al-Qaida-linked fighters were killed as well.
Rudaw